


Home

by Tsula



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort Fluff, F/M, Steve had a bad day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 07:31:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8277787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsula/pseuds/Tsula
Summary: He came through that door feeling broken, but seeing you there made all the difference in the world.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my revision folder for ages and I didn't change crap... just woke up and decided today shit is getting posted. ._.
> 
> Short piece I wrote a little after seeing Civil War (while it was still in theaters).

Steve didn't often regret his choice in occupation. He loved saving people, making the world just a little safer, and knowing that he actually made a difference out there. It was what he’d always wanted to do. What he’d fought so hard for all those years ago. 

Yet that didn’t keep the doubts at bay. Because sometimes it didn’t feel worth it. Sometimes it felt like they were doing more damage than good in an endless crusade against evil. And maybe they were. 

It was never in question that people were alive because of what they did; but people were dead too. 

That was never easy to handle and sometimes it found a way to feel worse. Made so by the guilt of ‘what-ifs’ and what could have been. If he’d been a little faster, if he’d seen something a little quicker… it was pointless really, but none of them could truly keep these kind of thoughts out of their heads. They did what they could when they could and how they could do it. Battles are too fast moving for second guessing: that always comes after to spoil the victory and shorten that feeling of relief at it finally being over. 

Another short lived peace made less peaceful by the chaos and loss left behind. And often without an enemy to put into the spotlight to hold the blame. People needed someone to hate for the pain they felt and it seemed like, more often than not, it was the very group that had done their damnedest to save them. It didn’t matter how much they did though: there was always more they _should_ have done. Either in their own minds or in the minds of others: their best was never enough. 

That’s part of what made coming home such a relief. Home was his safe haven… and home was wherever you just so happened to be. 

This time you were waiting for them at the compound. It made his return a little easier because he got to see you sooner. Got to feel whole again sooner. 

He came through that door feeling broken, but seeing you there made all the difference in the world. He could hardly stand to wait the time it took to get from the door to where you sat waiting for him on the couch. You didn’t even make it to your feet before he’d swooped down and pulled you up into his arms like he’d done a hundred times before. This time with a desperation that he knew you felt. He could tell by the way you threw yourself into his embrace and just the way you looked at him like he was your whole world. Something that in some ways broke him and in others were all that soothed his tired soul. 

He kissed you then before either of you said a word. He kissed you like he needed to with every fiber of his being. As though he thirsted for the taste of your lips with a dying man’s frenzy. 

Because he felt like he was dying a little more inside every time he had to step out that door. To face a world of madness and monsters when all he really wanted was to just stay right there with you. To wrap you up in his arms and never let you leave. Keep you close so no one could ever hurt you and just vanished from the world together. Fade into the backdrop of life where he wasn’t Captain America anymore… just Steve. Just a man helplessly in love and wanting little more than to spend his life with you. 

It wasn’t exactly a lot to ask, but for him it wasn’t entirely possible. There was just too much evil in the world for him to simply walk away, no matter how badly he wanted to. 

So he gladly settled for and savored each and every stolen moment with you. One infinite moment to dull the pain he felt eating away at him from the inside. The toxic surge that tore him down every time he had to watch people killing other people over a difference of opinion or something as worthless and petty as _wounded pride_. 

When you leaned back for a good look at him, he let you: though he would have gladly stood there kissing you forever. 

“Bad day?” You asked with that soft look of understanding that he sometimes felt he didn’t deserve. Especially on the really bad days. 

“Yeah.” He murmured in response as he pulled you back to him. Even such a small distance felt unbearable. 

Who knew how long the two of you would actually have together before something else got in the way? A new evil. An old foe returned. Every day held the possibility of terrible things and all he wanted was just a moment to not think about them. To not anticipate all the things that might tear him from your arms and just enjoy being this close to you. 

It was the only time he really felt like himself anymore. Here he was allowed to just be happy and normal. Two things that had never meant so much before, but had slowly become the only things he really wanted. 

He found them both in you.


End file.
